The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 5295

With a thunderous slap on the stone armrest, Toxius split the marble dais. The entire floor cracked open, and from the fissures erupted ink-green vines, wriggling like venomous serpents toward the trio.

Corin's longsword rang free. Silver-white arcs of sword energy sliced through the nearest tendrils, severing each before it could touch flesh. “Careful! These are Corrosive Vines. Their tiny hairs burrow under the skin and rot the heart!”

Flaxseed unfurled a golden net etched with runes, casting it wide to form a shimmering wall that held the vines back. “Jared, that old geezer sits at Top Level Earthly Immortal Realm Level Seven. Watch his true venom art!”

Jared never glanced at the vines. His stare locked onto Toxius. “Your fight is with me.”

He closed the distance again, but this time, each sword technique blended the ghost-step movement technique he had mastered within the tomb of swords, turning every advance into a feint inside a feint.

In his grip, the Dragonslayer Sword seemed alive. At times, it was a golden serpent lashing wildly, and other times, a black dragon's claw probing. Every cut hunted a fresh gap in Toxius' defenses.

Unprepared for the erratic sword technique, Toxius shuffled backward again and again. Sword energy ripped his emerald robe, exposing skin beneath that looked more like warped tree bark than flesh.

“You wretched brat, did you think I feared you?”

Driven to rage, Toxius tore the shredded robe wide. A black serpentine tattoo coiled across his chest, and at his murmur, it wriggled free—becoming a two-foot shadow snake that slithered up his neck and settled atop his skull.

“Behold my life-bound parasite—the Spiritual Corrosive Snake. It will burrow into your consciousness field, nibbling at your divine soul until living and dying are both denied you.”

With a whisper-thin hiss, the snake became a black streak, darting for the center of Jared's brow faster than sight.

Corin and Flaxseed cried out, but the vines coiled tighter, choking every chance of rescue.

Jared had foreseen the strike. Instead of retreating, he leaned in, and from his forehead erupted golden light—the dragon's power shield forged the day he refined dragon essence.

A razor-edged screech tore through the hall.

Toxius' head tumbled to the floor. Ink-green blood fountained from the stump, yet the moment the droplets touched Jared's marked aura, they burned away into harmless mist.

With their master slain, the rampaging poison vines shriveled instantly, and the toxic mist began to lift from the main hall.

Flaxseed gazed at the corpse on the dais, then fell to his knees. Facing the direction of his long-dead Flaxseed clan, he struck his forehead to the marble three times. “Ancestors, I have avenged you.”

Corin rested a hand on Flaxseed's shaking shoulder, eyes shimmering with bittersweet respect.

Meanwhile, Jared approached the bronze cauldron. The liquid within—once a seething green venom—had turned as clear as mountain springwater.

He brushed the bottom of the vessel and fished out an emerald badge carved with the word “Flaxseed.” A faint spiritual aura still clung to the stone.

“This belonged to your clan,” Jared said, offering the emerald badge to Flaxseed.